When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Dont read if you don't like rants that are longer than they need to be haha.
A few weeks ago I was in rush hour traffic backed much farther back of a major intersection stoplight than normal traffic would be. Basically red light backs traffic up several hundred yards each cycle. I was in the middle lane almost at the back of it but knew I needed to turn at the light. I was so far back of the light that was still on a dashed line but a dead stop. I did t he responsible thing and decided I should make an effort to get into the turn lane then rather than try to do it while traffic is already moving on a green light. There was a lady in a Honda in the turn lane but she was texting and had left several car lengths in front of her empty. I was a full car length ahead of her in my lane and put my blinker on for a good 5 seconds, tried to wave at her but she wasn't paying attention so I slowly moved into the lane. Right as I began to do that she looked up. Most normal people would not have any reaction to that and would just have remained at a dead stop while i got in the lane, but she was not a normal person. She is one of those people who believes she owns all empty space in the lane in front of her and she felt a need to defend her turf from my invasion and hit the gas and tried to close the gap I was slowly moving into by cutting me off. Since I was already in the process of getting into the lane before she did that, she ended up scraping the entire side of her car against the driver side fender where it begins curving into the front bumper.
I did not even get out of the car until police had I arrived because I was so livid I was afraid I would go ballistic on her and end up as a viral video or something lol. That didnt stop her from standing outside yelling at me about right of way and that I am stupid and just cost myself money. She also then lied to the police officer and said that she was already moving forward and i lurched into her and tried to cut her off.
The news from here is all good though! The damage to my car was all superficial and was buffed out by a detailer for $30, which was a huge relief bc it looked ugly at first glance. What's even better is that while the officer was doing his thing it wasn't difficult to quietly gather some photo evidence that I used to establish her fault and turn the tables on her with the insurance companies. Her bill is about $2k apparently. I wish I could have been there when her insurance company told her that she was responsible. Is it weird that I kind of wish my damage had been more than $30? And all of this so easily avoided by just not freaking out if someone is merging into the lane in front of you.
Last edited by UofMiamiProf; 03-31-2021 at 06:31 PM.
Reason: punctuation (indentation) added on request
x2 on the Dashcam. You can turn off GPS on most cameras in order to not reveal that you follow speed limits at all times. Some will let you keep GPS but hide speed as well.